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Thursday, 29 September 2016

Explaining your problem

Look at these two forms we can use to talk about our health problems:'I have been coughinga lot these days / recently / for the last few days / since yesterday.'(PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS)'I have a cough.' (PRESENT SIMPLE)

'I have been sneezing.''My head has been hurting.''I have been having headaches.''I have been feeling tired.''I haven't been sleeping well.'

I have + noun

'I have a bad back''I have a sore throat.''I have a fever/ a temperature.'

I feel + adjective

'I feel dizzy.' 'I feel under the weather.' 'I feel rundown.'

Types of illness

Allergy

(adjective Allergic) To have a bad reaction to animals, dust, foods or plants. The symptoms are red eyes, runny nose and sneezing.

Cough

(verb to Cough) Pronounced 'coff'. To force air out of the lungs making a loud and uncomfortable noise:'Smoking makes me cough.'

Dizziness

(adjective Dizzy). To have the feeling that everything around you is spinning.'I felt dizzy after standing up too quickly when I was in the bath.'

Fever / Temperature

A rise in body temperature. To feel hot.

The Flu

(also called Influenza) A very strong cold caused by a virus. Symptoms include: fever, headache, runny nose and sneezing.

Hay Fever

An allergy to plants and the pollen from flowers. The symptoms are red eyes, a runny nose and sneezing.

Insomnia

Not being able to sleep at night.

Rash

Uncomfortable, itchy, red spots on the skin. A skin condition.'She got a rash on her hand after touching a strange plant.'

Rundown / Under the Weather

(idioms) Both of these mean a general feeling of sickness. Rundown usually comes from living an unhealthy lifestyle. Under the weather means to not feel your usual, healthy self.

Runny Nose

Mucus coming from the nose. The need to blow your nose a lot.

Sneeze

(verb to Sneeze) An uncontrollable movement of air from the nose and mouth.'The strong smell of flowers makes me sneeze.'

Sunburn

Red and painful skin that comes from being in the sun too long.

- ache / sore -

These three forms are usually used to talk about general problems. These are the common collocations:

Why I changed my name

Changing my name was a complicated process that took lots of things into account. It’s difficult to really point to one reason that made me do it. Here are some of the contributing factors, though.

My old name was hard to spell and say

Corina isn’t too unusual a name, but my spelling can be. It’s often spelled with two r’s or two n’s, or with an a, as in Carina. My original surname, Mackay, also has it’s problems. My dad told me once when I was a kid that he thought it was a Scottish name that had been brought to Australia generations ago and the pronunciation had been mangled, so we actually said our own name wrong. Who knows if that’s the case.Anyway, the way we pronounced it was ‘mack-ay’, even though it’s spelled more like ‘mack-eye.’ So quite often it would be pronounced wrong by others, or it would be spelled McKay, or MacKay. The fact that Australia actually has a city called Mackay that’s pronounced ‘mack-eye’ didn’t help.Needless to say, this got pretty tiring as a kid. When all you’re trying to do is fit in at school and seem cool, the last thing you want is to have to wrestle with every teacher over how to say or spell your name.